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IN PHOTO: The readout on a seismograph drum shows two quakes that hit the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch is seen in this June 13, 2011 handout photo. A series of powerful tremors rattled the quake-prone New Zealand city of Christchurch on Monday, destroying a building and sending boulders tumbling down hillsides. REUTERS/GeoNet/Handout

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 on the Richter Scale sent tremors across south east Queensland at approximately 9:45 A.M on Thursday. Geologists say the tremors originated at a depth of 35 km in the Coral Sea, off the eastern shore of Queensland.

Geoscience Australia said that the earthquake had the potential to cause damage up to 18 km away and was strong enough to be felt by people living up to 228 km away from the epicentre. However, according Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller, there are so far no reports of damage.

While there is no threat of a tsunami over the east coast of Australia, Skynews reported that earthquake is the strongest in Australia since the tremors that struck the region in the first part of the last century. Senior Geoscience Australia seismologist John Bathgate said that they had recorded earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 and 6 dating back to 1918, off the Gladstone region.

Social media was flooded with updates from people who felt today's tremors in Brisbane, Wide Bay, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, with many reporting that they felt the earthquake for about 15 seconds to 2 minutes. "Just had a minor #earthquake/tremor at home in Eumundi. Shook BBQ & very heavy table on deck. Lasted about 10 secs," one person said on Twitter.

Richard who lives on the Sunshine Coast also said that the tremor could be felt for about 15 minutes. "Just sitting here on the computer and thought there was a knock on the door, but it was definitely the house shaking," he said. "The windows were rattling and the door sort of rattling. I don't know the house was just shaking it took me a second or two to realise, could this be an earthquake."

According to the ABC, Mike Turnbull, a researcher at the Central Queensland University, said that the earthquake was not an unexpected one,and that another with a magnitude of 5.0 had hit the region near Mount Perry a few months back in February. He said both quakes occurred along known fault lines.

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